PINOCCHIO IS BROUGHT BEFORE THE KING
Pinocchio had slept for hours when he was aroused by strange sounds.
Were these the voices of human beings.
Yah! Yah! Hoi! Hoi! Uff! Uff!
What could it possibly be? The marionette opened an eye, but quickly
shut it again when he saw a number of coal-black faces turned toward
him.
What do these ugly people want of me? he asked himself, as he lay
there perfectly still.
When Pinocchio next opened his eyes he saw to his great surprise that
the men had formed a circle about him. At their chiefs command they
began to dance. It was all so funny that Pinocchio could hardly keep
from laughing. Then the chief made a sign, at which the savages
advanced toward the marionette, took him up by his arms and legs, and
started away with him.
This is not so bad, thought the marionette.
After a time his bearers laid him gently upon the ground and commenced
to examine him. Pinocchio decided to make believe he was dead.
For that reason he kept his eyes shut tightly and lay still.
Suddenly there was a great noise. He was startled. Opening one eye, he
saw approaching a chief followed by a crowd of attendants. Judging from
the manner in which the new arrivals were received, they were persons
of high rank. At their approach the savages knelt down, raised their
hands high in the air, and bent their foreheads to the ground.
A man stepped out from the ranks and came toward Pinocchio. He examined
the marionette from head to foot, while all the others looked on in
silence.
When the examination was over the marionette hoped to be left in peace,
but another approached him and went through the same performance. Then
came a third, a fourth, a fifth, and so on.
Pinocchio was somewhat tired of this. As the last one came up he
muttered, Now I shall see what they are going to do with me.
The man who had first examined Pinocchio now approached him again, and
calling the bearers, said, in a tongue which, curiously enough, the
marionette understood, Turn the little animal over!
Upon hearing himself called an animal, Pinocchio was seized with a mad
desire to give his tormentor a kick, but he thought better of it.
The bearers advanced, took the marionette by the shoulders, and rolled
him over.
Easy! easy! this bed is not too soft, Pinocchio said to himself.
A second examination followed, and then another command, Roll him over
again!
What do you take me for,a top? muttered the marionette in a burst of
rage. But he pricked up his ears when the man who had been rolling him
over turned to another and said, Your majesty!
Indeed! thought Pinocchio, we are not dealing with ordinary persons!
We are beginning to know great people. Let me hear what he has to say
about me to his black majesty, and the marionette listened with the
deepest attention.
Your majesty, my knowledge of the noble art of cooking assures me that
this creatureand he gave Pinocchio a kickis an animal of an extinct
race. It has been turned into wood, carried by the water to the beach,
and then brought here by the wind.
Not so bad for a cook, thought Pinocchio. He felt half inclined to
strike out and hit the nose of the wise savage, who had again knelt
down to examine him.
Your majesty, continued the cook, this little animal is dead,
because if it were not dead
It would be alive, Pinocchio muttered. What a beast! How stupid!
Because if it were not dead, it would not be so hard. To conclude, had
it not been made of wood, I could have cooked it for your majestys
dinner.
Pinocchio said to himself: Listen to this black rascal! Eaten alive!
What kind of country have I fallen into? What vulgar people! Its lucky
for me that I am made of wood!
His majesty then commanded that as the animal was not good to eat it
should be buried.
Immediately three or four of the men began to dig a hole, while the
unfortunate marionette, half dead with fright, tried to form some plan
of escape. The time passed. The hole was dug, and the poor fellow could
not think of any plan. Run away! But how? And if they found out that he
was alive would he not be cooked and eaten? The marionette did not know
what to do.
In the meantime two men had raised him from the ground and stood ready
to throw him into the hole. Then in spite of himself, the marionette
began to shout at the top of his lungs: Stop! Stop! I will not be
buried alive! Help! Help! My good Fatina!Fatina!my Fatina! Help!
At the first shout the two men who were holding him let him fall to the
ground and started off in a great fright. All the others followed their
example.
What funny people! said Pinocchio. If I had known that they would
all run away like this, I should not have been so uneasy. However, I
really do not know why I have come here. If I only knew where to find
diamonds and gold, it would not be so hard. I might return home to my
father, for who knows how much he is suffering because I am not there!
At that moment he would have given up the whole trip, but he was too
stupid to keep an idea in his head for more than a few seconds. Another
thought flashed across his mind, and he forgot his poor father.
If these people run away, it means that they are afraid, and if they
are afraid, it means that they have no courage. Now then, I, being very
brave, may in a short time come to rule over everything in Africa.
Perhapswho knows!I may become a king or an emperor!
Pinocchio, you lazy dreamer, are you never going to learn wisdom? Only
a blockhead like you could be so foolish. A wooden emperor, indeed!